Burial casket



Sept. 11, 1962 e. c. HILLENBRAND BURIAL CASKET Filed Dec. 21, 1959 Y ,6 INVENTOR. fimcwfh United rates This invention relates to burial caskets and particularly to metal burial caskets which are designed and constructed to provide enduring protection for the body of the deceased. In general, these burial caskets are constructed of steel; therefore, the disclosure of the invention is directed to steel burial caskets.

These burial caskets are usually elongated rectangular structures which comprise a body portion and a hinged top portion which together constitute a metal box. The top may be a single section or two adjoining sections. In the trade these caskets are designated full couch and half couch caskets respectively. If the casket is of the type intended to provide enduring protection it is usually called a sealer casket. The seal may be accomplished by the use of a special insert which is fastened in sealing relationship to the body of the casket or by rubber gasketing which is applied between margins of the top section or sections and the upper rim of the body of the casket. Caskets of this sealer type are disclosed in US. patent to Purkiss No. 2,284,921.

Caskets have been manufactured under the Purkiss patent for a period of about years by a number of casket manufacturers and the public demand for sealer caskets has been both substantial and increasing. The psychological factors which impose this demand doubtlessly vary from individual to individual, but the common denomina tor seems to be a general desire to provide the body of the deceased with the greatest protection possible, as a last and symbolic gesture of respect. It is the objective of the inventor to provide a casket which more completely fulfills the public demand for caskets which protect the body of the deceased.

A steel casket of the type herein disclosed is usually finished with the conventional paints, lacquers, enamels, etc., which are commonly used for protecting and decorating metal surfaces. At present baked enamels are considered the best finishes fiom the point of view of prolonged protection of the metal.

Nevertheless, after a casket is buried, either the soil or the ground water to which it may become exposed provides a corrosive potential which becomes actual upon the deterioration of the finish and the ultimate exposure of the naked metal to the elements. In the past pipe l nes and various other vulnerable underground structures have been protected against corrosion by disposing a sacrificial anode in the vicinity of the structure to be protected and electrically connecting the anode to the structure, whereby the structure becomes the cathode of an electrolytic cell in the presence of any Water which may contain an acid alloy or salt. These sacrificial anodes may be made of zinc, aluminum, magnesium or any metal of higher electromotive potential than the cathode. Preferably the anode is a special alloy of these metals of the type developed by Dow Chemical Co. The present invention consists in applying the principle of cathodic protection to a burial casket.

The practical problem of applying efi'ective cathodic protection to a burial casket is two fold. In the first place, cathodic protection is a fraud unless the period of protection be very substantial. This means that a sacrificial anode must be very large in order to have the required life after activation. In the second place this requisitely large anode must not encumber the casket from the point of view of appearance, shipping, handling,

' atent or any phase of its usage. For instance, it is not practical to provide a sacrificial anode as an appendage to the casket although the use of the anode as an appendage is quite conventional in many systems which provide cathodic protection to buried metal structures.

The casket of the present invention comprises a conventional, steel, sealer casket and a large sacrificial anode cofabricated as an integral structure and adapted to provide a long period of cathodic protection for the casket without complicating or encumbering the casket structure.

The invention will be more fully understood in relation to the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the casket of the invention. FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the bottom of the casket. FIGURE 3 is a detailed plan view of the anode construction. FIG- URE 4 is a detailed side elevational of the anode construction. FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of FIGURE 2.

The casket of this invention is constituted by a body portion 1 and a top portion 2, which is hinged or otherwise connected thereto. The hinge or connection is not shown. Preferably, there is rubber gasketing between the the body 1 and the top 2, which is not shown in the drawing. Bottom panel 3 of the casket is provided with a depression or recess 4, which is shown at 5 on FIG. 5 and is substantially semi-circular in cross section. This recess 4 is an elongated groove which extends for the greater part of the full length of the casket and is centrally located as to the width of the casket. This recess is constituted by the contour of the metal of the bottom panel 3 and varies from the plane of the bottom panel so that it is a depression in relation to the outside of the casket and an elevation in relation to the inside of the casket. This long axial groove, which is formed in the metal, tends to rigidity the bottom panel 3 of the casket although it does not make it completely rigid.

The recess 4 in the bottom of the casket need not be semi-circular in cross-section but may be square or of any desired configuration. Further, the recess need not be an elongated groove but may be of any desired shape and may be located at any point desired in the bottom panel 3. Inasmuch as it is this elongated groove 4 which is used to contain the sacrificial anode, the use of the long centrally disposed groove not only contributes best to the rigidity of the bottom panel but disposes the sacrificial anode centrally in respect to the casket.

The sacrificial anode 6 is mounted in groove 4 and extends for most of the length of the groove. This anode is preferably constituted by an alloy rod which is preferably semi-circular to fit in the recess or groove and is proportioned and configurated not to protrude from the bottom panel. The relationship is specifically illustrated in FIGURE 5. This arrangement provides a large anode without increasing any dimension of the casket.

This long rod is relatively rigid in comparison with the bottom panel of the casket, which is not of sufficiently heavy gage to resist all flexing under normal conditions of usage. It is therefore desirable to provide special means for attaching the anode to the casket in order to prevent flexing of the bottom panel of the casket from stressing and perhaps breaking the rod. The present invention provides a flexible mechanical connection between the anode and the casket to constitute the anode a free floating anode which may articulate in relation to the bottom panel of the casket. This mechanical connection also electrically insulates the anode from the casket. The electrical connection between the anode and the casket is provided by a separate element.

As disclosed in FIGURES 3 and 4 each end of the anode rod is provided with two apertures 7. In each aperture an insulating sleeve 8 is inserted. In each pair of sleeves a metal yoke 9 is disposed. The ends 10 of these yokes 9 protrude from the ends of the anode rod and are attached in the casket recess 4 by soldering or welding as at 11. As shown in FIGURE 5 the anode rod is electrically insulated from the casket over its length by means of insulating tape 12.

The anode rod 6 is provided with a centrally located core Wire 13 which runs the full length of the rod and may be composed of any metai desired. This core wire runs the full length of the anode rod 6 and is interiorly located, in fact, it is placed centrally in the electrode in respect to the width of the electrode but is offset in respect to the thickness of the electrode so that it is closer to the semi-circular surface 14 of the electrode which is adjacent to the recess 4 in the bottom panel 3 of the casket than it is to the trout planar face 115 of the anode rod 6 which is substantially flush with the planar surface of the bottom panel 3 of the casket.

The purpose of this core wire 13 is to provide an enduring electrical connection which extends over the entire length of the anode rod 6 to avoid segregation by erosion of portions of the anode rod. One end of this anode rod is counterbored at 16 to provide an aperture in the rod. An electrical resistor 17 is disposed adjacent to the counterbore. One lead-18 from the resistor 17 is soldered or welded within the counterbore to establish electrical connection between the core wire and the resistor. A second lead 19 extends from the other end of the resistor and is soldered or welded to an arm of yoke 9 to provide electrical connection between the resistor and the metal which constitutes the body of the receptacle. Asphalt, paint or some other suitable protective coating is used to cover the loci where the said leads l8 and 19 are soldered or welded to the core wire and yoke respectively.

The purpose of the resistor is to impose a relatively high resistance in the circuit which is technically the external circuit of the electrode cell which is constituted by the exposed metal of the casket, the sacrificial anode and the ground water. This resistance may be of the order of 50 ohms, although no specific resistance is critical. This pre-selected resistance controls and limits the current flow through the external circuit and hence retards or limits the rate at which the sacrificial anode is consumed afiter the cell is activated by deterioration of the casket finish. If no resistor were used and there was an ordinary electrical connection between the sacrificial anode and the metal of the casket the sacrificial anode would tend to erode very rapidly, but the use of the resistor prolongs the life of the anode very substantially.

The structure of this invention not only provides very prolonged cathodic protection for the casket but also obviates all undesirable complication of the casket structure. Being mounted in a recess in the bottom of the casket the anode is entirely out of sight. Further, the anode in spite of its size does not constitute a protrusion which might interfere with the handling of the casket at the time of use or which might get in the way during shipment or storage. Cathodic protection is built into the casket at the factory and hence its employment does not involve last minute attachment or installation which would complicate the burial ceremony.

The combination of the rubber gasketing, which renders the casket a sealed receptacle, and the sacrificial anode insures very enduring protection for the body of the deceased. 'True, the protection is far less than permanent from the point of view of geological time, but it is more than adequate to assure the bereaved at the time of their sorrow that conditions will remain as they last saw them for a period of time which exceeds their imagination.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A burial casket adapted to provide enduring protection after burial, said casket comprising a sealed, sheet steel receptacle having a bottom panel, a narrow elongated recess in said bottom panel, said recess extending over substantially the full'length of the bottom panel, a

sacrificial anode rod disposed in said recess and extending over a substantial portion of the length thereof, said anode being proportioned and configurated not to protrude from the bottom of the receptacle, means for insulating the anode from said bottom panel, flexible mechanical connections which are not electrically conductive between the ends of said electrode and the bottom panel whereby the bottom panel and the anode may articulate relatively, and an electrical connection between the sacrificial anode and the sheet steel receptacle.

2. A burial casket adapted to provide enduring protection after burial, said casket comprising a sealed, sheet steel receptacle having a bottom panel, a narrow elongated recess in said bottom panel, said recess extending over substantially the full length of the bottom panel, a sacrificial anode rod disposed in said recess and extending over a substantial portion of the length thereof, said anode being proportioned and configurated not to protrude from the bottom of the receptacle, means for insulating the anode from said bottom panel, flexible mechanical connections which are not electrically conductive between the ends of said electrode and the bottom panel whereby the bottom panel and the anode may articulate relatively, and an electrical resistor connected electrically to said anode and to said bottom panel whereby on exposure to ground water a controlled electrolytic action develops which erodes the sacrificial electrode at a rate determined by the value of the resistor.

3. A burial casket adapted to provide enduring protection after burial, said casket comprising a sealed sheet steel receptacle having a bottom panel, a narrow elongated recess in said bottom panel, said recess extending over most of the length of the bottom panel, a sacrificial anode rod disposed in said recess and extending over a substantial portion of the length thereof, said anode being proportioned and configurated not to protrude from the bottom of the receptacle, means for insulating the anode from said bottom panel, a pair of apertures in each end in said sacrificial anode rod, an electrically insulating sleeve in each aperture, a flexible yoke disposed in each pair of sleeves, mechanical connections between the ends of said yokes and said bottom panel and an electrical resistor connected electrically to said anode and to said bottom panel whereby on exposure to ground water a controlled electrolytic action develops which erodes the sacrificial electrode at a rate determined by the value of the resistor.

4. A burial casket adapted to provide enduring protection after burial, said casket comprising a scalable, sheet steel receptacle having a bottom panel, a recess in said bottom panel, said recess being constituted by the configuration of the metal which constitutes the bottom panel, said recess varying from the plane of the bottom panel of the casket so as to constitute a depression in relation to its exterior surface, and an elevation in relation to its interior surface, said recess being an elongated groove extending for most of the length of the casket to rigidity the bottom panel of the casket, a sacrificial anode mounted in said recess, said anode being proportioned and configured not to protrude from the bottom of the receptacle, and an electrical connection between the anode and the sheet metal which constitutes the receptacle.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

